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Bizarre but true stories about real people collected by syndicated columnist Chuck Shepherd.

Two teams of Canadian engineers are completing their low-budget rockets and have begun seeking volunteer astronauts for a 2003 launch date to go 62 miles into space to win the St. Louis-based X Prize competition (which pays (U.S.) $10 million). The rockets (and those of about 20 other international contestants) are the "Cessnas" of the space industry, costing around (U.S.) $3 million to $5 million each to build. The astronauts will receive some training, but the engineers admit the adventure is hardly for the risk-averse.

A 32-year-old man was killed in October in Santa Cruz, Calif., when he fell from a hotel balcony, from which he had been hanging while shouting to his friends, "Look at this."

Robert and Theresa Dolin pleaded guilty to contributing to the delinquency of their teenage kids based on having given them Christmas gifts last year of marijuana bongs (Crystal Lake, Ill.).

Ojibwe Indian Albert LaFontaine declared that his newly purchased strippers' club would be a sovereign nation and said there "ain't no way" the government can stop him (Elko, Minn.).

Michael Carroll, 19, of Norfolk County, England, won that country's national lottery (equivalent: (U.S.) $41 million) in November and said he hopes the money will be an incentive to overcome the life of petty crime he has led for the last several years (examples: drunk and disorderly, vandalizing a school bus, car theft, other theft, driving without a license). He cannot now celebrate his win at a pub, nor drive his new car, because judicial restrictions are still in force from his last sentence.

Send your Weird News to Chuck Shepherd, P.O. Box 18737, Tampa, Fla. 33679 or Weird@compuserve.com
Copyright © 2001 by Chuck Shepherd

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